The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-03-25
Carrying His Bsidges.

The improvements that have been
made within few years in travelling
equipments have greatly increased the
facilities for exploration, while lessen
ing its discomforts., Savorgnan de
Brazza will soon take back to Africa
the latest invention designed to facili-
tate the work of explorers. fit is as
perfect as its inventors assert, it will
be a great boon to African travellers.
One Of the greatest mpedimcnts to
exploratory work in all tropical re-
gions is the large number of rivers,
big and little. that must be crossed.
An expedition sometimes has to cross
three or four streams in single day.
Often the stream is unfordable, and the
party has to walk miles to find boats
or ford. Where the river can be
forded the explorers pass over on the
shoulders of their stout carriers. Some
] times careless or unfortunate porter
drops a box or bundle of yaluables in
the water, and 1t is ruined or lost.
Everybody will remember the picture
in one of SANKEY'S books representing
the explorer as standing on the bank
Of rapid river, aiming his rifle at one
of his porters, whom he threatens to
shoot II he drops his load. The poor
fellow, submerged to his neck, is
struggling slowly along with Stanley's
precious box Of records on his head.
The French Congo is cut up by al
most innumerable streams. When de
Brazza goes back there in month or
two he will take with him two portable
bridges. They are a new invention
just patented by a great company of
French machinists. These bridges are
each 80 metres, or about 100 feet IN
length, which exceeds the width of
most African rivers. 1t is asserted
that soldiers, sailors or natives will be
able to put up one Of these bridges
complete in three-quarters of an hour,
and that men, mules, and heavily laden
wagons can safely cross upon them.
Explorers are now more firmly con-
WINGED than they used to be of the
necessity of making themselves as COM
Portable as the circumstances will per-
NIT, and so they provide themselves
with roomy tents, iron bedsteads, cork
beds, rubber bath tubs, folding chairs,
portable tables, and other conveniences
of civilization. They think, in tropical
countries especially, that any attempt
to rough it more than is actually neces-
sary is simply to invite disaster. The
improvements also that have been
made in their scientific instruments and
food supplies have much facilitated
their work and added to their comfort.
BY the invention Of dry gelatine plates
travellers have been able to discard
their rude and inadequate drawings for
the more satisfactory processes of pho
Biography. The comparatively new
practice of canning all sorts of pro-
visions is great boon to explorers. 1t
is found even in tropical climates that
canned soups, meats, and vegetables
will keep for an almost unlimited
length of time. In this way explorers
| now take along for their private table
little delicacfes which their predeces-
sors could not obtain, and the empty
tin cans in most parts of Africa make
very good money. as the natives regard
them as valuable presents. r-
In the past fifty years there have not
been any great Improvements in the
geographical instruments used by ex-
plorers. though in their present form
they are more handy and portable than
they used to be. Modern stem-wind-
ing and water-tight watches are great
convenience, and SO are portable boats
made in sections.
The greatest advantage, however, en-
joyed by recent travellers is the ease
with which distant parts of the world
are now reached. Fifty years ago we
were 100 days distant from the Cape of
Good Hope and $50 days from Bombay.
Now the explorer is not only carried
with celebrity across the sea, but, as a
rule. he can make use of modern facili-
ties of travel almost to the very thresh-
old of the region he intends to explore.